Pipelines, and similar media handling and conveying systems, often accumulate air. The air can accumulate from bubbles within the media being conveyed (as used herein, media refers to a liquid that may contain solid or semi-solid material), by gasses that vent from the media, or during filling and emptying cycles of the pipeline.
It is often desirable to remove the accumulated air from the pipelines, and air valves have been developed for this purpose. Traditional air valves use the buoyancy of a float to close the valve. However, such designs suffer from a number of shortcomings, including the problem that each air release valve must be customized for different uses, because of the varying pressures, flow rates, etc. that observed along a pipeline.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved air release valve.